The Trans-Pacific Partnership is an imminent threat to American workers–and it has the Obama administration’s full support.
BY Roger Bybee

If the TPP were a central topic of debate in Congress and in the news, it would be certain to trigger alarm bells among a broad swath of Americans.

Updated at 10p.m. EST on February 12 after the State of the Union address.

President Obama, who disappointed workers’ rights advocates by snubbing labor in his inaugural speech, likely horrified them during Tuesday's State of the Union by not only overlooking unions again but also devoting a section of the speech to promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a gigantic trade pact that has been described by Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch director Lori Wallach as “NAFTA on steroids. ” By uniting the U.S. and 10 other nations along the Pacific Rim, the TPP threatens to spur the increased offshoring of jobs to Vietnam and Malaysia, which are increasingly being touted as even lower-wage alternatives to the miserable but rising wages prevailing in China.

Near the end of his State of the Union Address, the president announced:

We should remember that today’s world presents not only dangers, but opportunities. To boost American exports, support American jobs, and level the playing field in the growing markets of Asia, we intend to complete negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership.

By pushing the TPP, Obama is fundamentally undermining his promise to build “an economy that works for everyone,” and—as Bill Clinton did with NAFTA—deeply alienating a substantial portion of his base along with much of the general public. No less than 53 percent of Americans are convinced that free trade has sapped America’s economic vigor.